134-653: English National Opera ( ENO ) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane . It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera . ENO's productions are sung in English. The company's origins were in the late 19th century, when the philanthropist Emma Cons , later assisted by her niece Lilian Baylis , presented theatrical and operatic performances at
268-500: A Victorian philanthropist who ran the Old Vic theatre in a working-class area of London, began presenting regular fortnightly performances of opera excerpts. Although the theatre licensing laws of the day prevented full costumed performances, Cons presented condensed versions of well-known operas, always sung in English. Among the performers were noted singers such as Charles Santley . These operatic evenings quickly became more popular than
402-682: A cinema during the period that the Empire, Leicester Square was closed for rebuilding. The initial presentation, from 6 June, was a revival of Gone With the Wind which ran for 3 months. On 2 November the World Premiere of Bachelor in Paradise took place in the presence of the film's star, Bob Hope, and following this, on 15 November, was the UK premiere of Samuel Bronston 's epic King of Kings . MGM continued to use
536-601: A dance company, something she had wished to do since 1926 when she engaged Ninette de Valois to improve the standard of dancing in operas and plays at the Old Vic. The three companies Baylis founded developed over the next three decades to become the Royal Ballet , the National Theatre and English National Opera . For the first few years the opera, drama and ballet companies, known as the "Vic-Wells" companies, moved between
670-577: A degree of splendor and magnificence ... that do equal honour to the taste and liberality of the Proprietor". In 1771 Rosoman retired. He sold his three-quarter share in the theatre to Thomas King, a friend and Drury Lane colleague of Garrick. King took over the management from December 1771, and continued to offer entertainments of the traditional variety – tumblers, singers, acrobats and "Several surprising and pleasing Performances by Messrs Sigels, lately arrived from Paris". Although his own tastes favoured
804-589: A difference, but that Sadler's Wells needed "a big heave to get out of mediocrity". In the same year, The Times Literary Supplement asked whether the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells companies would stick to their old bases, "or shall they boldly embrace the ideal of a National Theatre and a National Opera in English?" Carey left in 1947, replaced in January 1948 by a triumvirate of James Robertson as musical director, Michael Mudie as his assistant conductor and Norman Tucker in charge of administration. From October 1948, Tucker
938-424: A few were. But because, like Elder, he enabled so many other talents to thrive. Productions during the 1980s included the company's first presentations of Pelléas and Mélisande (1981), Parsifal (1986) and Billy Budd (1988). 1980s productions that remained in the repertory for many years included Xerxes directed by Hytner, and Rigoletto and The Mikado directed by Jonathan Miller . In 1984 ENO toured
1072-467: A financial crisis, exacerbated by backstage industrial relations problems. After 1983, the company ceased touring to other British venues. Assessing the achievements of the 'Powerhouse' years, Tom Sutcliffe wrote in The Musical Times : ENO is not second best to Covent Garden. It is different, more theatrical, less vocal. ... The ENO now follows a policy like Covent Garden's in the early years after
1206-525: A full scale revolving chariot race – requiring the stage to revolve. The theatre's original slogan was PRO BONO PUBLICO (For the public good). It was opened in 1904 and the inaugural performance was a variety bill on 24 December that year. English Heritage , in its description of the theatre when it was given listed status in 1960 notes that it is "exuberant Free Baroque ambitious design, the Edwardian "Theatre de Luxe of London" with richly decorated interiors and
1340-489: A genre new to England. According to the current laws, only the two patent companies were permitted to present non-musical dramas. Sadler's Wells and other theatres were obliged by the Minor Theatres Act (1751) to avoid spoken dialogue. To circumvent this rule, theatre managers had their actors speaking against a continuous background of instrumental music, so that it was passed off as a musical entertainment. In general
1474-402: A glover, James Miles, and the wooden auditorium was renamed "Miles's Musick-House". Under their management the public could hear ballad singers and see jugglers, wrestlers, fighters, dancing dogs and, according to the theatre's 21st-century historian, "even a singing duck". In the early years of the 18th century the reputation of the spa declined. By the time Hogarth produced his Four Times of
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#17328481037491608-467: A heart attack. Her three companies continued under the direction of her appointed successors: Tyrone Guthrie at the Old Vic, in overall charge of both theatres, with de Valois running the ballet, and Carey and two colleagues running the opera. In the Second World War, the government requisitioned Sadler's Wells as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. Guthrie decided to keep the opera going as
1742-479: A history of the house published in 1847 confines itself to saying that the house was built at some time after the creation of the adjoining New River in 1614. A well with water from a mineral spring was discovered on Sadler's land in Islington , near the boundary with Clerkenwell . After an eminent physician tested the water and praised its supposed health-giving properties, Sadler found two more wells nearby. Taking
1876-449: A huge water tank on the stage. In the mid-19th century, when the law was changed to remove restrictions on staging drama, Sadler's Wells became celebrated for the seasons of plays by Shakespeare and others presented by Samuel Phelps between 1844 and 1862. From then until the early 20th century the theatre had mixed fortunes, eventually becoming abandoned and derelict. The philanthropist and theatre owner Lilian Baylis bought and rebuilt
2010-436: A joint enterprise with Covent Garden, where he was in command. At first, the apparent financial security of the offer appeared attractive, but friends and advisers such as Edward J. Dent and Clive Carey convinced Bayliss that it was not in the interests of her regular audience. This view received strong support from the press; The Times wrote: The Old Vic began by offering opera of some sort to people who hardly knew what
2144-482: A large orchestra pit installed". It reopened on 21 August 1968, with a production of the opera Don Giovanni . Another extensive renovation took place between 2000 and 2004. when the design team included the architects RHWL and Arup as acousticians and building engineers. The London Coliseum has two lifts which provide step-free access for disabled patrons to all levels, except the Upper Circle. Periodically,
2278-677: A licence to allow the Old Vic to stage full performances of operas. In the 1914–1915 season, Baylis staged 16 operas and 16 plays (13 of which were by Shakespeare ). In the years after the First World War, Baylis's Shakespeare productions, which featured some of the leading actors from London's West End , attracted national attention, as her shoe-string opera productions did not. The opera, however, remained her first priority. The actor-manager Robert Atkins , who worked closely with Baylis on her Shakespearean productions, recalled, "Opera, on Thursday and Saturday nights, played to bulging houses." By
2412-528: A local, working-class audience. In 1925 she began a campaign to reopen the derelict Sadler's Wells on a similar basis. She raised the necessary funds and the new theatre was designed by F. G. M. Chancellor , who had succeeded Frank Matcham as senior partner of Matcham and Co. . The new theatre opened with a gala performance on 6 January 1931 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night starring John Gielgud as Malvolio and Ralph Richardson as Toby Belch . Acquiring Sadler's Wells enabled Baylis to set up
2546-534: A masterpiece," and other reviewers agreed with him. Payne insisted, "I think it's one of the best things we've done. ... It's exceeded my expectations." In the arts pages of The Financial Times , Martin Hoyle wrote of Payne's "exquisite tunnel vision" and expressed "the concern of those of us who value the true people's opera". Payne remained adamant that opera lovers who came to the ENO for a "nice, pleasant evening ... had come to
2680-525: A new attraction, dubbed the Aqua-show. A huge water tank was installed under the stage for the production of aquatic spectacles. This tank and a second, above the stage to provide waterfall effects, were supplied with water from the New River alongside the theatre. The historian Shirley S. Allen writes that such was the remarkable realism in the performance of sea stories that Sadler's Wells became for thirty years
2814-427: A new director, Alistair Spalding , concluded that Sadler's Wells "had been at its best when it had had resident companies and new works being created within its walls". He announced: In accordance with this policy Sadler's Wells has appointed an increasing number of choreographers and other associate artists and has commissioned and produced new work. In 2004 Breakin' Convention joined Sadler's Wells, "representing
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#17328481037492948-547: A new manager in 1700, but the decline continued. In 1711, after its fashionable clients had taken their trade elsewhere, Sadler's Wells was described in The Inquisitor as "a nursery of debauchery", and the place was frequented by many "unaccountable and disorderly" people. In 1712 a man called French was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for killing a Mr Thwaits at Sadler's Wells. Miles died in 1724, and under Forcer's son
3082-477: A performance of the third act of The Valkyrie played to 20,000 rock music fans at the Glastonbury Festival . In December 2003, Daniel announced his departure from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. Oleg Caetani was announced as the next music director, from January 2006. In 2004, ENO embarked on its second production of Wagner's Ring . After concert performances over the previous three seasons,
3216-644: A permanent ensemble in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed and the company toured British towns and cities. After the war, the company returned to its home, but it continued to expand and improve. By the 1960s, a larger theatre was needed. In 1968, the company moved to the London Coliseum and adopted its present name in 1974. Among the conductors associated with the company have been Colin Davis , Reginald Goodall , Charles Mackerras , Mark Elder and Edward Gardner . The current music director of
3350-576: A presence ever since. The new theatre was designed by the Arts Team division of the architects RHWL . It opened in October 1998 with a design that incorporates the skeleton of the 1931 Chancellor theatre (which itself contained bricks from the Victorian structure). It has an expanded 15 m sprung stage, a 1,500-seat auditorium, three rehearsal studios and the smaller 200-seat Lilian Baylis studio theatre for
3484-404: A professional orchestra of only 18 players, for whom Corri rescored the instrumental parts of the operas. By the early years of the 20th century, the Old Vic was able to present semi-staged versions of Wagner operas. Emma Cons died in 1912, leaving her estate, including the Old Vic, to Baylis, who dreamed of transforming the theatre into a "people's opera house". In the same year, Baylis obtained
3618-511: A second company was established. It was based at Leeds in northern England, and was known as ENO North. Under Harewood's guidance, it flourished, and in 1981 it became an independent company, Opera North . In 1982, at Elder's instigation, Harewood appointed David Pountney director of productions. In 1985 Harewood retired, becoming chairman of ENO's board the following year. Peter Jonas succeeded Harewood as managing director. The 1980s leadership team of Elder, Pountney and Jonas became known as
3752-412: A small touring ensemble of 20 performers. Between 1942 and the war's end in 1945, the company toured continuously, visiting 87 venues. Joan Cross led and managed the company, and also sang leading soprano roles in its productions when needed. The size of the company was increased to 50, and then to 80. By 1945, its members included singers from a new generation such as Peter Pears and Owen Brannigan , and
3886-699: A vast and grandiose auditorium." The description continues: "Lavish foyer and circulation areas with marble facings, culminating in vast 3-tier auditorium with wealth of eclectic classical detail of Byzantine opulence, some motifs such as the squat columns dividing the lowest tier of slip boxes, backing the stalls, almost Sullivanesque; pairs of 2-tiered bow fronted boxes with domed canopies at gallery level and semi-domed, Ionic-columned pairs of 2 tiered orchestra boxes, contained in arched and pedimented frames surmounted by sculptural groups with lion-drawn chariots. Great, semi-circular, blocked architrave proscenium arch with cartouche- trophy keystone." The inaugural performance
4020-475: A violinist, Francis Forcer, who was both dancing-master and composer. The initial popularity of Sadler's spa did not last long, and by 1691 it had ceased to be a fashionable resort. He sold two of his wells, and the original one dried up for a time; his entertainments became the main draw for those of the public still interested. There is no documentary proof, but Arundell conjectures that by 1697 Sadler had either died or retired; Forcer went into partnership with
4154-414: A year-round, permanent ensemble, singing in English, instead of the shorter international seasons of pre-war years. This was a potential path to merge the two companies, as the modus operandi of the new Covent Garden company was now similar to that of Sadler's Wells. However, David Webster , who was appointed to run Covent Garden, though keen to secure de Valois' ballet company for Covent Garden, did not want
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4288-404: Is located in St Martin's Lane , London. Matcham built the theatre for the theatrical impresario Sir Oswald Stoll and had the ambition of it being the largest and finest "People’s palace of entertainment" of the age. Matcham wanted a Theatre of Variety – not a music hall but equally not highbrow entertainment. The resulting programme was a mix of music hall and variety theatre, with one act –
4422-417: Is more authoritative than could have been predicted from his uneven accounts of the previous operas." The production attracted generally bad notices. The four operas were given individual runs, but were never played as a complete cycle. During the 2000s the company repeated the experiment, previously tried in 1932, of staging oratorios and other choral works as operatic performances. Bach 's St. John Passion
4556-482: The BBC , and the new music director was Sian Edwards . Pountney's post of director of productions was not filled. Marks, inheriting a large financial deficit from his predecessors, worked to restore the company's finances, concentrating on restoring ticket sales to sustainable levels. A new production by Miller of Der Rosenkavalier was a critical and financial success, as was a staging of Massenet's Don Quixote , described by
4690-628: The English National Opera in 1974 and today it is used primarily for opera as well as being the London home of the English National Ballet . The London Coliseum was built by the architect Frank Matcham who intended it to be one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Construction began in 1903 and the venue opened on 24 December the following year as the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties. It
4824-556: The English Opera Group . The departure of the ballet company to Covent Garden two months later deprived Sadler's Wells of an important source of income, as the ballet had been profitable and had since its inception subsidised the opera company. Clive Carey, who had been in Australia during the war, was brought back to replace Joan Cross and rebuild the company. The critic Philip Hope-Wallace wrote in 1946 that Carey had begun to make
4958-568: The London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties , it was designed by the architect Frank Matcham for the impresario Oswald Stoll . Their ambition was to build the largest and finest music hall , described as the "people's palace of entertainment" of its age. At the time of construction, the Coliseum was one of the few theatres in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of
5092-547: The Lyceum Theatre in the West End, bought the unexpired thirty-three year term of the lease of Sadler's Wells. Bateman commissioned C. J. Phipps to design a new interior for the theatre, which reopened in October 1879. Phipps remodelled the auditorium, with a stronger horseshoe profile for the front of the dress circle and the gallery above. These extended further toward the stage than the previous circle and gallery, increasing
5226-526: The Old Vic , for the benefit of local people. Baylis subsequently built up both the opera and the theatre companies, and later added a ballet company; these evolved into the ENO, the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet , respectively. Baylis acquired and rebuilt the Sadler's Wells theatre in north London, a larger house, better suited to opera than the Old Vic. The opera company grew there into
5360-409: The freehold of Sadler's Wells. Work started on the site in 1926. By Christmas 1930, a completely new 1,640-seat theatre was ready for occupation. The first production there, a fortnight's run from 6 January 1931, was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night . The first opera, given on 20 January, was Carmen . Eighteen operas were staged during the first season. The new theatre was more expensive to run than
5494-515: The sponsorship ended, costs outstripped income, and the opera company – though not the theatre – went into liquidation with heavy debts in 1989. In 1994 a new chief executive, Ian Albery , led a campaign to transform Sadler's Wells into a purpose-built dance theatre. During the two-year rebuilding, Sadler's Wells moved temporarily to the Peacock Theatre in the West End , where it has maintained
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5628-468: The "Powerhouse", initiated a new era of "director's opera". The three of them favoured productions described, contrastingly, by Elder as "groundbreaking, risky, probing and theatrically effective", and by the director Nicholas Hytner as "Euro-bollocks that never has to be comprehensible to anybody but the people sitting out there conceiving." Directors who did not, in Harewood's phrase, "want to splash paint in
5762-513: The 1790s Dibdin was stage manager as well as composer, with Grimaldi as comic star. The theatre was by now in need of renovation, not least because of concerns about safety. The proprietors, led by William Siddons, husband of Sarah Siddons , proposed "an Entire new inside" so that "the Building will be a stable one for fifty years to come". Sadler's Wells reopened in 1802 with an interior "entirely re-built at an immense Expence". In 1804 it acquired
5896-544: The 1920s, Baylis concluded that the Old Vic no longer sufficed to house both her theatre and her opera companies. She noticed the empty and derelict Sadler's Wells theatre in Rosebery Avenue, Islington , on the other side of London from the Old Vic. She sought to run it in tandem with her existing theatre. Baylis made a public appeal for funds in 1925. With the help of the Carnegie Trust and many others, she acquired
6030-750: The 1950s and 1980s the Handel Opera Society staged productions there. Visiting dance troupes included the Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham companies, the Dance Theatre of Harlem , London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the Ballet Rambert . The current theatre dates from 1998. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive rehearsal rooms and technical facilities also housed within
6164-527: The 1950s. New repertoire was explored, such as the first British staging of Janáček 's Káťa Kabanová , at Mackerras's urging. Standards and company morale were improving. The Manchester Guardian summed up the 1950–51 London opera season as "Excitement at Sadler's Wells: Lack of Distinction at Covent Garden" and judged Sadler's Wells to have moved "into the front rank of opera houses". The company continued to leave Rosebery Avenue for summer tours to British cities and towns. The Arts Council (successor to CEMA)
6298-452: The 1970s, the historian Sarah Crompton records, the dance programme of Sadler's Wells had diversified considerably. Among the companies appearing there were the Ballet Rambert and London Contemporary Dance Theatre , who both held residencies there, and visiting ensembles including those of Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham , Nederlands Dans Theater and the Dance Theatre of Harlem . After
6432-581: The 1980s. After Baylis died in 1937 the Vic-Wells Ballet was led by de Valois and the opera company was under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie . In the Second World War the government requisitioned Sadler's Wells as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. The two companies toured for the duration of the war. When the theatre reopened in 1945 the companies were briefly reunited there, but de Valois objected to Guthrie's treatment of her company as
6566-510: The 2,351-seat London Coliseum for a summer season. Ten years later, the lease of the Coliseum became available. Stephen Arlen, who had succeeded Tucker as managing director, was the primary advocate for moving the company. After intense negotiations and fund-raising, a ten-year lease was signed in 1968. One of the company's last productions at the Islington theatre was Wagner's The Mastersingers , conducted by Goodall in 1968, which 40 years later
6700-460: The 2011 season continued the company's traditions of engaging directors with no operatic experience (a well-reviewed The Damnation of Faust staged by Terry Gilliam and set in Nazi Germany) and of drastic reinterpretations (a version of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream presented by Christopher Alden as a paedophile parable set in a 1950s boys' school, which divided critical opinion). In
6834-465: The 2012–13 season ENO introduced "Opera Undressed" evenings, aimed at attracting new audiences who had thought opera "Too pricey, too pompous, too posh". Operas advertised under this banner were Don Giovanni , La traviata , Michel van der Aa 's Sunken Garden (performed at the Barbican ) and Philip Glass's The Perfect American . In January 2014, the ENO announced Gardner's departure as music director at
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#17328481037496968-610: The Angel, not two hundred yards from Sadler's Wells." Bateman hoped to restore the theatre's reputation as a classical playhouse, as in Phelps's time, but she died in 1881. The historian Philip Temple quotes an earlier writer's comment that despite Bateman's improvements, "in the 1880s the Saturday night gallery contained the most villainous, desperate, hatchet-faced assembly of ruffians to be found in all London". There were several attempts to convert
7102-467: The Carmelites (1999). Co-productions, enabling opera houses to share the costs of joint enterprises, became important in this decade. In 1993 ENO and Welsh National Opera collaborated on productions of Don Pasquale , Ariodante and The Two Widows . The aim must be to create a new audience that does not see opera as a middle class trophy art form: an audience that Payne was beginning to attract to
7236-470: The Coliseum was used to show films and, when the "'talkies' arrived at the Coliseum in 1933, films were run at the theatre for a year. The greatest sensation at this time was the showing of King Kong which ran at the Coliseum for months with 10,000 people seeing the film there every day." After a lacklustre period of poorly received musicals came to an end, in June 1961 the theatre was leased by MGM for use as
7370-453: The Coliseum. Director Tim Albery and colleagues, The Times , 18 July 2002 Operagoers want to hear great singing and orchestral playing presented in the context of a work's ethos rather than in some form only comprehended by the director. Critic Alan Blyth , The Times , 19 July 2002 Martin Smith, a millionaire with a finance background, was appointed chairman of
7504-564: The Day series in 1736, the theatre had lost any vestiges of fashionability and was satirised as having an audience consisting of tradesmen and their pretentious wives. Ned Ward described the clientele in 1699 as: Butchers and bailiffs, and such sort of fellows, Mixed with a vermin train'd up for the gallows, As Bullocks and files, housebreakers and padders, With prize-fighters, sweetners, and such sort of traders, Informers, thief-takers, deer stealers, and bullies. The proprietors advertised for
7638-467: The ENO announced that surtitles would be introduced at the Coliseum. Surveys had shown that only a quarter of audience members could hear the words clearly. With a few exceptions, including Lesley Garrett and Andrew Shore , ENO singers of the 21st century were considered to have poorer diction than earlier singers such as Masterson and Derek Hammond-Stroud . Harewood and Pountney had been immovably opposed to surtitles, as both believed that opera in English
7772-464: The ENO board in 2001. He proved to be an expert fund-raiser, and personally donated £1M to the cost of refurbishing the Coliseum. He and Payne came into conflict over the effect on revenue of the "director's opera" productions that Payne insisted on commissioning. The most extreme case was a production of Don Giovanni directed by Calixto Bieito in 2001, despised by critics and public alike; Michael Kennedy described it as "a new nadir in vulgar abuse of
7906-458: The ENO is Martyn Brabbins . Noted directors who have staged productions at the ENO have included David Pountney , Jonathan Miller , Nicholas Hytner , Phyllida Lloyd and Calixto Bieito . The ENO's current artistic director is Annilese Miskimmon. In addition to the core operatic repertoire, the company has presented a wide range of works, from early operas by Monteverdi to new commissions, operetta and Broadway shows. In 1889, Emma Cons ,
8040-634: The London Coliseum to the Coliseum Theatre between 1931 and 1968 when a run of 651 performances of the musical comedy White Horse Inn began on 8 April 1931. Additionally, Arthur Lewis notes that: The Coliseum reverted to the original name when the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved there in 1968 and, in 1974, the Company changed its name to become the English National Opera; it bought the freehold of
8174-481: The London opera scene, Tucker, his deputy Stephen Arlen , and his musical director Alexander Gibson resigned. The proposals were modified, and the three withdrew their resignations. In 1960, the Carl Rosa Company was dissolved. Sadler's Wells took over some of its members and many of its touring dates, setting up "two interchangeable companies of equal standing", one of which played at Sadler's Wells theatre while
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#17328481037498308-407: The Old Vic and Sadler's Wells but by 1935 the established pattern was drama at the former and opera and ballet at the latter. In 1935 both the opera and ballet companies went on summer tours for the first time. In their absence the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company took the theatre for a season of Gilbert and Sullivan , the first of 21 such London seasons at Sadler's Wells, returning in every decade until
8442-583: The Old Vic, as a larger orchestra and more singers were needed, and box office receipts were at first inadequate. In 1932, the Birmingham Post commented that the Vic-Wells opera performances did not reach the standards of the Vic-Wells Shakespeare productions. Baylis strove to improve operatic standards, while at the same time fending off attempts by Sir Thomas Beecham to absorb the opera company into
8576-619: The Sadler's Wells opera company. He considered Sadler's Wells to be a worthy organisation, but also "dowdy" and "stodgy". Even with a policy of singing in English, he believed that he could assemble a better company. The management of Sadler's Wells was unwilling to lose its company's name and tradition. It was agreed that the two companies should remain separate. Divisions within the company threatened its continued existence. Cross announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells theatre with Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten , with herself and Pears in
8710-618: The South Bank of the Thames near the Royal Festival Hall , which fell through because the government was unwilling to fund the building. Once again, there was serious talk of merging Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells. The Sadler's Wells board countered by proposing a closer working arrangement with Carl Rosa. When it became clear that this would require the Sadler's Wells company to tour for 30 weeks every year, effectively removing its presence on
8844-619: The United States; the travelling company, led by Elder, consisted of 360 people; they performed Gloriana , War and Peace , The Turn of the Screw , Rigoletto and Patience . This was the first British company to be invited to appear at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where Patience received a standing ovation and Miller's production of Rigoletto , depicting the characters as mafiosi ,
8978-444: The actor Samuel Phelps managed and starred at the theatre. He intended to bring Shakespeare to the masses. Sadler's Wells at this stage had a largely local Islington audience, working class and relatively uneducated; economically the theatre had its advantages: a large capacity (2,500) and a low rent. Phelps believed that the theatre should be a "place for justly representing the works of our great dramatic poets", particularly since
9112-416: The auditorium was "entirely new modelled and made every way more commodious than heretofore for the better reception of company". Forcer junior sought to improve standards – according to one historian he "succeeded, to a great degree," in driving away "the mass of incomprehensible vagabonds" – but after his death in 1743 John Warren took over, and standards fell again, to the extent that the authorities closed
9246-570: The authorities did not enforce the letter of the law with particular rigour. The Tempest was performed there in 1764, but Arundell suggests it was not Shakespeare's original, but " Garrick's version of the Dryden -Shakespeare- Purcell work castrated into an opera" . In 1763 Rosoman engaged the dancers from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . This suited both theatres, as at that time Sadler's Wells customarily opened from late spring to early autumn and
9380-471: The building and turning it into "a people's theatre". The outbreak of the First World War led to the abandonment of the plan, and Sadler's Wells declined into dereliction. It closed in 1915 and did not reopen after the war. Since 1914 the theatre proprietor and philanthropist Lilian Baylis had run drama and opera companies at her south London theatre, the Old Vic , with cheap prices aimed at attracting
9514-409: The building for £12.8 million in 1992. The Coliseum hosted both the 2004 and 2006 Royal Variety Performances and is also the London base for performances by English National Ballet , which perform regular seasons throughout the year when not on tour. The Who performed there and recorded their concert, on 14 December 1969. While its wing space is limited due to the constricted site on which
9648-456: The campaign against yet another proposal to merge Covent Garden and ENO, which was rapidly abandoned. In 1998 Nicholas Payne, director of opera at Covent Garden, was appointed as ENO's general director. Productions in the 1990s included the company's first stagings of Beatrice and Benedict (1990), Wozzeck (1990), Jenůfa (1994), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1995), Die Soldaten (1996), Doctor Ox's Experiment (1998) and Dialogues of
9782-554: The company was "capable of extraordinary artistic work", but "we have serious concerns about their governance and business model and we expect them to improve or they could face removal of funding." In March 2015 Cressida Pollock, a management consultant, was named the interim CEO of ENO. In July 2015, Berry resigned as artistic director of ENO. Critical and box-office successes in the company's 2014–2015 season included The Mastersingers , which won an Olivier Award for best new opera production, and Sweeney Todd , with Bryn Terfel in
9916-638: The conductor Reginald Goodall . Both Sadler's Wells and the Royal Opera House had presented no opera or ballet since 1939. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts ( CEMA ), the official government body charged with dispensing the modest public subsidy recently introduced, considered its options on the future of opera in Britain. CEMA concluded that a new Covent Garden company should be established, as
10050-481: The critic Hugh Canning as "the kind of old-fashioned theatre magic which the hair-shirted Powerhouse regime despised". Marks was obliged to spend much time and effort in securing the funding for an essential restoration of the Coliseum, a condition on which the ENO had acquired the freehold of the theatre in 1992. At the same time the Arts Council was contemplating a cut in the number of opera performances in London, at
10184-698: The development and presentation of small-scale work. The current building retains the Grade II listing applied to the Matcham theatre in 1950. The opening season included performances by Pina Bausch 's Tanztheater Wuppertal , William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt , and Rambert Dance. Operatic productions at the new house have included seasons by the Royal Opera (1999), Welsh National Opera (1999 and 2001), Polish National Opera (2004), Glyndebourne Touring Opera (2007) and English Touring Opera (2010). In 2004
10318-461: The directors of Sadler's Wells Opera , hoped to relocate the company there. The plans fell through when the government declined to contribute to the capital cost of the proposed building, but Arlen remained convinced that Sadler's Wells was too small for productions of large-scale works such as Wagner 's Ring cycle , and in 1968 the company left Sadler's Wells and moved to the London Coliseum . Sadler's Wells turned to dance as its main focus. By
10452-419: The dramas that Cons had been staging separately. In 1898, she recruited her niece Lilian Baylis to help run the theatre. At the same time she appointed Charles Corri as the Old Vic's musical director. Baylis and Corri, despite many disagreements, shared a passionate belief in popularising opera, hitherto generally the preserve of the rich and fashionable. They worked on a tiny budget, with an amateur chorus and
10586-530: The dramatic, King catered for the tastes of his audiences, and in particular featured pantomimes , establishing the theatre as a rival to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in that genre. His shows, with music by Charles Dibdin , included such pieces as Vineyard Revels, or, The Harlequin Bacchanal , and The Whim-Wham, or, Harlequin Captive . In 1781 Joseph Grimaldi made his debut, aged two, dancing with his sister. In
10720-471: The duties between Loretta Tomasi as chief executive and John Berry as artistic director. These elevations from within the organisation were controversial, because they were neither advertised nor cleared at the top level of the Arts Council. Smith received severe press criticism for his action, and in December 2005 he announced his resignation. In the same week, Caetani's appointment as the next ENO music director
10854-443: The end of the 2014–15 season, to be succeeded by Mark Wigglesworth . At the time, the ENO had accumulated an £800,000 deficit, exacerbated by reductions in public subsidy; The Times commented that the incoming music director had a reputation for "steely, even abrasive determination" and that he would need it. From late 2014 the company went through a further organisational crisis. The chairman, Martyn Rose, resigned after two years in
10988-500: The end of the season and rebuilt "in a most elegant manner". Rosoman was a builder by trade, and he had the wooden theatre replaced with a brick structure. The new building was completed in seven weeks, and cost £4,225; it opened in April 1765. The new house was well received: a London newspaper reported, "Sadler's Wells is now rebuilt and considerably enlarged; each of the entrances is decorated with an elegant iron gate and pallisades [with]
11122-432: The expense of ENO, rather than Covent Garden. By increasing ticket sales in successive years, Marks demonstrated that the Arts Council's proposition was unrealistic. After what The Independent described as "a sustained period of criticism and sniping at the ENO by music critics", Edwards resigned as music director at the end of 1995. Paul Daniel became ENO's next music director. In 1997, Marks resigned. No official reason
11256-468: The face of the public" were sidelined. A 1980s audience survey showed that the two things that ENO audiences most disliked were poor diction and the extremes of "director's opera". In the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Barry Millington has described the 'Powerhouse' style as "arresting images of dislocated reality, an inexhaustible repertory of stage contrivances, a determination to explore
11390-462: The format, it later became difficult to programme the theatre. It resorted to revivals of old 70mm movies before opening The Comedians on 18 January 1968 (a 70mm Panavision blow up). This ran for nine weeks and was followed by a revival of the 1956 Todd-AO epic Around the World in 80 Days , the first time this film had been shown in 70mm in London. This ran until 22 May 1968 when Cinerama pulled out and
11524-446: The four operas of the cycle were staged at the Coliseum in 2004 and 2005 in productions by Phyllida Lloyd , with designs by Richard Hudson , in a new translation by Jeremy Sams . The first instalments of the cycle were criticised as poorly sung and conducted, but by the time Twilight of the Gods was staged in 2005, matters were thought to have improved: "Paul Daniel's command of the score
11658-574: The high cost of opera productions, enabling a further increase in the size of the orchestra, to 48 players. Among the singers in the opera company were Joan Cross and Edith Coates . In the 1930s, the company presented standard repertoire operas by Mozart , Verdi , Wagner and Puccini , lighter works by Balfe , Donizetti , Offenbach and Johann Strauss , some novelties, among which were operas by Holst , Ethel Smyth and Charles Villiers Stanford , and an unusual attempt at staging an oratorio, Mendelssohn 's Elijah . In November 1937, Baylis died of
11792-777: The highlights of the first ten years at the Coliseum were the Ring , Prokofiev 's War and Peace , and Richard Strauss 's Salome and Der Rosenkavalier . The company's musical director from 1970 to 1977 was Charles Mackerras. Harewood praised his exceptional versatility, with a range "from The House of the Dead to Patience ." Among the operas he conducted for the company were Handel's Julius Caesar starring Janet Baker and Valerie Masterson ; five Janáček operas; The Marriage of Figaro with pioneering use of 18th century performing style; Massenet 's Werther ; Donizetti's Mary Stuart with Baker; and Sullivan's Patience . The company took
11926-467: The home of the "nautical drama". Grimaldi, by the early 19th century established as "the unchallenged king of clowns", continued as the theatre's principal clown until 1820, while pursuing a parallel career at Drury Lane. The law restricting non-musical drama to the two patent theatres was repealed by the Theatres Act 1843 , and the following year serious drama came to Sadler's Wells. From 1844 to 1862
12060-552: The house, and was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve installed on its stage. The theatre has 2,359 seats making it the largest theatre in London. After being used for variety shows, musical comedies, and stage plays for many years, then as a cinema screening films in the Cinerama format between 1963 and 1968, the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved into the building in 1968. The Sadler's Wells company changed its name to
12194-404: The junior partner, more valued for financial than for artistic reasons. She accepted an invitation from David Webster to base her main ballet company at the reopened Covent Garden, opening there in 1946, leaving Sadler's Wells with a small company known as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. The previous year the theatre had hosted the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes and over
12328-636: The leading London theatres were not presenting "the real drama of England". His biographer J. P. Wearing writes: Among the leading players in Phelps's company were Laura Addison , George Bennett , Fanny Cooper and Isabella Glyn ; Phelps starred in roles from Hamlet to Falstaff . His productions purged Shakespeare's texts of 18th-century alterations and additions, and he presented the plays with attention to period detail and dramatic veracity. The theatre began to attract audiences from beyond Islington, including literary figures such as Charles Dickens and John Forster . After Phelps's withdrawal in 1862
12462-469: The leading roles. Many complaints resulted about supposed favouritism and the "cacophony" of Britten's score. Peter Grimes opened in June 1945, to both public and critical acclaim; its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly , which the company was concurrently staging. However, the rift within the company was irreparable. Cross, Britten and Pears severed their ties with Sadler's Wells in December 1945 and founded
12596-518: The next twenty years the opera company gave British premieres of works by Verdi , Janáček , Stravinsky , Weill and others. Britten's ensemble the English Opera Group had London seasons at Sadler's Wells between 1954 and 1975. From 1959 to 1985 the theatre was the main venue for the annual seasons of the Handel Opera Society . In the 1960s there were plans for a new opera house on the South Bank ; Norman Tucker and his successor, Stephen Arlen ,
12730-1024: The opera company moved out, Sadler's Wells hosted operatic productions by, among others, Cologne Opera (1969) and the Camden Festival (1972). In 1983 a new opera company was established, with its base at Sadler's Wells. With a four-year sponsorship from the National Westminster Bank , the New Sadler's Wells Opera company focused on operetta , sung in English, in London and on tour. The first season opened with Lehar's The Count of Luxembourg , followed by Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado and Kálmán's Countess Maritza . Later productions included Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore , Ruddigore and The Gondoliers , Offenbach's La belle Hélène , Lehár's The Merry Widow and Noël Coward 's Bitter Sweet . Most of these productions were commercially recorded and released on LP and CD. After
12864-433: The other was on the road. By the late 1950s, Covent Garden was gradually abandoning its policy of productions in the vernacular; such singers as Maria Callas would not relearn their roles in English. This made it easier for Tucker to point up the difference between the two London opera companies. While Covent Garden engaged international stars, Sadler's Wells focused on young British and Commonwealth performers. Colin Davis
12998-423: The patent theatres were open for the other half of the year. Arundell comments that this engagement added to the prestige of Sadler's Wells "and ultimately benefited the place enormously, for the new Ballet Master was Giuseppe Grimaldi". (Grimaldi's son, Joseph , later became one of Sadler's Wells's star attractions.) Rosoman prospered and in the summer of 1764 he announced that Sadler's Wells would be pulled down at
13132-424: The place. The lease was acquired by Thomas Rosoman and Peter Hough, who reopened Sadler's Wells in April 1746. According to Arundell they "thereby started twenty years' prosperity for the old wooden theatre". Rosoman substantially reconstructed the wooden building in 1748–49. Rosoman engaged a regular resident company of actors, and the old Musick-House became a theatre. Rosoman introduced burlettas , at that time
13266-512: The post, following irreconcilable differences with Berry. Henriette Götz, the company's executive director, who had a series of public disagreements with Berry, resigned soon after. In February 2015, the Arts Council of England announced the unprecedented step of removing ENO from the national portfolio of 670 arts organisations that receive regular funding, and instead offered "special funding arrangements" because of continuing concerns over ENO's business plan and management. The council recognised that
13400-466: The production of the last to the Vienna Festival in 1975, along with Britten's Gloriana . Sir Charles Groves succeeded Mackerras as musical director from 1978 to 1979, but Groves was unwell and unhappy during his brief tenure. Starting in 1979, Mark Elder succeeded Groves in the post, and described Groves "immensely encouraging and supportive". A long-standing concern of Arlen and then Harewood
13534-504: The seating capacity being reduced since the Theatre's opening, it still has the largest seating capacity of any Theatre in the West End at 2,359. The theatre retains many of its original features and was given a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage in September 1960. Prior to Sadler's Wells Opera Company taking over the Coliseum in 1968, the house was "fully restored, redecorated, and
13668-417: The site. Sadler's Wells is now chiefly known as a dance venue. As well as hosting visiting companies, the theatre is also a producing house, with associated artists and companies who create original works for the theatre. Sadler's Wells maintains an additional base at the Peacock Theatre in the West End . Details of the origins of Sadler's Wells are disputed. According to Dennis Arundell in his history of
13802-621: The social and psychological issues latent in the works, and above all an abundant sense of theatricality." As examples, Millington mentioned Rusalka (1983), with its Edwardian nursery setting and Freudian undertones, and Hansel and Gretel (1987), its dream pantomime peopled by fantasy figures from the children's imagination ... Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1987) and Wozzeck (1990) exemplified an approach to production in which grotesque caricature jostles with forceful emotional engagement. Poor average box-office sales led to
13936-424: The spoken drama, while Sadler's Wells housed both the opera and a ballet company, the latter co-founded by Baylis and Ninette de Valois in 1930. Lawrance Collingwood joined the company as resident conductor alongside Corri. With the increased number of productions, guest conductors were recruited, including Geoffrey Toye and Anthony Collins . The increasing success of the new ballet company helped to subsidise
14070-622: The suggestion that the Sadler's Wells company should be called "The British National Opera" or "The National Opera", although neither Scottish Opera nor the Welsh National Opera opposed such a change. Eventually the British government decided the matter, and the title "English National Opera" was approved. The company's board adopted the new name in November 1974. In 1977, in response to demand for more opera productions in English provincial cities,
14204-531: The theatre even after the new Empire, Leicester Square reopened in December 1962, but MGM's lease expired on 19 May 1963 and the theatre was then leased by the Cinerama Corporation to become the second of London's Cinerama locations (after the Casino Cinerama ). Conversion to three-strip projection which used three projectors was undertaken, and an 80 ft wide, 30 ft tall deeply curved screen
14338-454: The theatre in 1926. Together with Baylis's Old Vic , Sadler's Wells became home to dance, drama and opera companies that developed into the Royal Ballet , the National Theatre and English National Opera . From the 1930s to the 1980s the theatre was home to 21 London seasons by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company ; from the 1950s to the 1970s the English Opera Group , founded by Benjamin Britten , had its London base at Sadler's Wells; and between
14472-407: The theatre into a music hall , but the authorities refused to license it. The only major changes to Phipps's building was the addition by the architect Bertie Crewe of a new portico in 1894, aligned to the newly completed Rosebery Avenue . In the early years of the 20th century the theatre doubled as a cinema, showing films on Sundays, with live shows – described as "cowboy melodramas" – during
14606-565: The theatre presented a variety of shows, but despite appearances by stars such as J. L. Toole , Hermann Vezin and the young Nellie Farren , they made little impact. A succession of managements tried unsuccessfully to make the theatre pay; in 1874 it closed, and there were plans to turn it into baths and washhouses . The building, by that time in a perilous state of repair, was used as a roller-skating rink and for lectures, boxing and wrestling, until in August 1878 Sidney Bateman , who had been running
14740-569: The theatre reverted to live use. Sadler%27s Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue , Islington . The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre building in the 1680s. Lacking the requisite licence to perform straight drama, the house became known for dancing, performing animals, pantomime , and spectacular entertainments such as sea battles in
14874-415: The theatre was built, as Lloyd notes, "the stage of the London Coliseum was also on a vast scale; 55 feet wide by 92 feet deep". The stage is not raked . It has the widest proscenium arch in London and was one of the first to have electric lighting. It was built with a triple revolving stage , although this was rarely used. The Coliseum was originally designed to seat 2,939 people on four levels. Despite
15008-450: The theatre's capacity. The theatrical newspaper The Era reported, "The changes made are so remarkable that Sadler's Wells may now claim to be one of the largest and most conveniently-constructed London Theatres". By this time Islington was no longer an isolated village but an inner suburb of the capital, and The Era remarked, "no part of London can be reached with greater facility, as omnibuses, trams, &c, from various directions pass
15142-502: The theatre, its founder was called Dick Sadler. Many other sources, from the 18th century onwards, say the same, but others give Sadler the forename Thomas, and according to the Survey of London he was Edward. It is also uncertain when Sadler established his auditorium: many sources give the year as 1683; others give it as 1684 or 1685. According to Arundell, Sadler had already opened his "Musick-House" at an unspecified date before 1683;
15276-530: The title role. New productions announced for 2015–2016 were Tristan and Isolde , with sets by Anish Kapoor ; the company's first staging of Norma ; and the first London performance for 30 years of Akhnaten . London Coliseum The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre ) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane , Westminster , built as one of London 's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres . Opened on 24 December 1904 as
15410-452: The war, when Peter Brook was scandalising the bourgeoisie with his opera stagings. The last two seasons at the ENO have been difficult, or at any rate sentiment has turned against the outgoing regime over the last nine months. Audience figures are well down. ... The presiding genius of the Elder years has, of course, been David Pountney. Not because his productions were all marvellous. Perhaps only
15544-614: The waters was fashionable at the time – there were popular spas at Bath , Tunbridge and Epsom – and Sadler started marketing the water from his wells. Visitors to the Musick-House began to drink it, and many London physicians recommended their patients to do so. By the end of the summer of 1685 five or six hundred people frequented the Musick-House every morning for the water. Sadler laid out ornamental gardens and engaged entertainers to amuse his patrons: there were tumblers, rope-dancers and musicians. Sadler took as his business partner
15678-450: The week, but it did not prosper. The drama critic of The Daily Chronicle wrote in February 1914, "Poor wounded old playhouse! Here it stands even now, shabby and disconsolate, its once familiar frontage half hidden with glaring posters". With the support of leading theatre figures including Bernard Shaw , Arthur Wing Pinero and Seymour Hicks , a plan was put forward in 1914 for saving
15812-402: The word meant ... under a wise, fostering guidance it has gradually worked upwards ...Any kind of amalgamation which made it the poor relation of the 'Grand' season would be disastrous. At first, Baylis presented both drama and opera at each of her theatres. The companies were known as the "Vic-Wells". However, for both aesthetic and financial reasons, by 1934, the Old Vic had become the home of
15946-447: The wrong place." The differences between Smith and Payne became irreconcilable, and Payne was forced to resign in July 2002. The successor to Payne was Séan Doran , whose appointment was controversial because he had no experience of running an opera company. He attracted newspaper headlines with unusual operatic events, described by admirers as "unexpected coups" and by detractors as "stunts";
16080-436: Was a variety bill on 24 December 1904, but it "was a total failure and closed down completely only two years after opening in 1906 and remained closed until December of 1907 when it was reopened and at last became successful." In 1908, the London Coliseum was host to a cricket match between Middlesex and Surrey. In 1911, dramatist W. S. Gilbert produced his last play here, The Hooligan . The theatre changed its name from
16214-424: Was announced, but one report stated that he and the ENO board had disagreed about his plans to move the company from the Coliseum to a purpose-built new home. Daniel took over the management of the company until a new general director was appointed. Daniel inherited from Marks a company thriving artistically and financially. The 1997–1998 season played to 75 per cent capacity and made a surplus of £150,000. Daniel led
16348-484: Was appointed musical director in succession to Gibson in 1961. The repertoire continued to mix familiar and unfamiliar operas. Novelties in Davis's time included Pizzetti 's Murder in the Cathedral , Stravinsky 's Oedipus rex , Richard Rodney Bennett 's The Mines of Sulphur and more Janáček. Sadler's Wells's traditional policy of giving all operas in English continued, with only two exceptions: Oedipus rex , which
16482-503: Was cancelled. Berry was at first criticised in the press for his choice of singers for ENO productions, but the appointment of Edward Gardner as music director from 2007 received considerable praise. The Observer commented that Gardner was "widely credited with breathing fresh life into English National Opera". Attendance figures recovered, with younger audiences attracted by ENO's marketing schemes. The company's finances improved, with £5M in reserve funds in April 2009. Productions in
16616-461: Was described by Gramophone magazine as "legendary". The company left Sadler's Wells with a revival of the work with which it had re-opened the theatre in 1945, Peter Grimes . Its last performance at the Rosebery Avenue theatre was on 15 June 1968. The company, retaining the title "Sadler's Wells Opera", opened at the Coliseum on 21 August 1968, with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni , directed by Sir John Gielgud . Though this production
16750-533: Was followed by a production of The Mikado in May of the same year. The Islington theatre was by now clearly too small to allow the company to achieve any further growth. A study conducted for the Arts Council reported that in the late 1960s the two Sadler's Wells companies comprised 278 salaried performers and 62 guest singers. The company had experience of playing in a large West End theatre, such as its 1958 sell-out production of The Merry Widow that had transferred to
16884-577: Was given in 2000, followed by Verdi's Requiem (2000), Tippett 's A Child of Our Time (2005) and Handel's Jephtha (2005) and Messiah (2009). ENO responded to the increased interest in Handel's operas, staging Alcina (2002), Agrippina (2006) and Partenope (2008). In 2003 the company staged its first production of Berlioz 's massive opera The Trojans , with Sarah Connolly as "a supremely eloquent, genuinely tragic Dido". In 2005, after an internal debate that had been going on since 1991,
17018-546: Was given sole control. Mudie became ill, and the young Charles Mackerras was appointed to deputise for him. By 1950 Sadler's Wells was receiving a public subsidy of £40,000 a year, whilst Covent Garden received £145,000. Tucker had to give up the option of staging the premiere of Britten's Billy Budd , for lack of resources. Keen to improve the dramatic aspects of opera production, Tucker engaged eminent theatrical directors including Michel Saint-Denis , George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw worked on Sadler's Wells productions in
17152-549: Was greeted with a mixture of enthusiasm and booing. In 1990 ENO was the first major foreign opera company to tour the Soviet Union , performing the Miller production of The Turn of the Screw , Pountney's production of Macbeth , and Hytner's much-revived Xerxes . The 'Powerhouse' era ended in 1992, when all three of the triumvirate left at the same time. The new general director was Dennis Marks , formerly head of music programmes at
17286-877: Was installed. Beginning on 16 July 1963, the theatre was renamed the Coliseum Cinerama, with the UK premiere of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm . This film transferred to the third of London's Cinerama houses, the Royalty Theatre on 27 November and the Coliseum was converted for single-projector Cinerama using 70mm film for the Gala UK Premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World on 2 December 1963. Other 70mm films followed, The Magnificent Showman (the UK Title of Circus World ), The Great Race (a 35mm "blow up") and The Bible . With fewer films made in
17420-512: Was not well received, the company rapidly established itself with a succession of highly praised productions of other works. Arlen died in January 1972, and was succeeded as managing director by Lord Harewood . The success of the 1968 Mastersingers was followed in the 1970s by the company's first Ring cycle, conducted by Goodall, with a new translation by Andrew Porter and designs by Ralph Koltai. The cast included Norman Bailey , Rita Hunter and Alberto Remedios . In Harewood's view, among
17554-524: Was pointless if it could not be understood. Harewood thought, moreover, that surtitles could undermine the case for a publicly funded opera-in-English company. The editor of Opera magazine, Rodney Milnes , campaigned against surtitles on the grounds that "singers would give up trying to articulate clearly and audiences would cease focusing on the stage". Despite these objections, surtitles were introduced from October 2005. On 29 November 2005, Doran resigned as artistic director. To replace him, Smith divided
17688-471: Was sensitive to the charge that since 1945, far fewer opera performances had been given in the provinces. The small Carl Rosa Opera Company toured constantly, but the Covent Garden company visited only those few cities with theatres big enough to accommodate it. In the mid-1950s, renewed calls appeared for a reorganisation of Britain's opera companies. There were proposals for a new home for Sadler's Wells on
17822-571: Was sung in Latin, and Monteverdi 's L'Orfeo , sung in Italian, for reasons not clear to the press. In January 1962, the company gave its first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Iolanthe , with Margaret Gale in the title role, on the day on which the Savoy operas came out of copyright and the D'Oyly Carte monopoly ended. The production was well received (it was successfully revived for many seasons until 1978) and
17956-488: Was the need to change the company's name to reflect the fact that it was no longer based at Sadler's Wells theatre. Byam Shaw commented "The one major setback the Sadler's Wells Opera Company suffered from its transplant was that unheeding taxi drivers kept on taking their patrons up to Rosebery Avenue". Harewood considered it an elementary rule that "you must not carry the name of one theatre if you are playing in another one." Covent Garden, protective of its status, objected to
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